Coca-Cola hosted a media event at Cannes to share the company's commitment to #workthatmatters.

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Cannes, France – The Coca-Cola Company was presented with
the 2013 Creative Marketer of the Year Award at the Cannes Lions International
Festival of Creativity, widely considered to be the world’s foremost
celebration of creative excellence in brand communications.

“We are humbled and honored to receive this honor, which has
been in the making for many decades,” said Joe Tripodi, chief marketing and
commercial officer, who accepted the award Saturday night on behalf of Coke’s
global marketing community and agency partners around the world. “The legacy we
want to leave is of a brand and company that does good things for the
world and speaks to optimism, positivity
and happiness.”

Since winning its first Cannes Lion in 1967, Coca-Cola has amassed
more than 120 coveted awards for work spanning multiple brands, creative
disciplines and geographies. That total includes 20 awards won last week at the
2013 festival, led by “Small
World Machines,” which shows that what unites us is stronger than what sets
us apart. The inspiring film claimed nearly half of the company’s 2013 Lions.

Creative With a
Conscience

Jonathan Mildenhall, VP of advertising strategy and content
excellence, said “Small World Machines” in particular has the “secret formula the
Cannes juries are looking for – brutal simplicity, genuine authenticity,
seamless technology, an authentic product role and a strong social purpose.”

His comment mirrored the central message of his keynote co-presented
on day two of the festival with Ivan Pollard, Coke’s VP of global connections.
The session, titled “Work
That Matters” (#workthatmatters), explored the company’s rich heritage of
producing creative that makes a difference and projects a culturally relevant
point of view – highlighting lesser-known work including 1955 print ads
featuring an African-American model named Mary Alexander, iconic TV commercials
such as “Hilltop” (1971) and “Mean Joe” (1979), to current campaigns including “Security
Cameras,”“Reasons
to Believe” and “Play
Fanta.”

Much of this work straddles borders, challenges racial
prejudice and defies gender stereotypes – all guided by a common strand of DNA.
“Each of our stories is relentlessly optimistic,” Pollard explains. “We have
always believed that Coca-Cola is a brand that will loudly say ‘yes’ in the
face of ‘no.’ For the last 60 years, as long as Cannes Lions has been around,
we have consistently backed creativity that makes a difference.”

And social purpose is not just good for the world; it’s good
for business, too. As Mildenhall notes, most of the last 15 advertisers to be
named Creative Marketer of the Year enjoyed, at the time, either an
all-time-high share price or record-setting sales.

Mildenhall concludes, “We have all worked incredibly hard to
push our own creative benchmarks. Great work is pouring out from all over our system,
and the drive for creative excellence is system wide. Today is the first day of
the next creative mountain we must climb.”

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world’s largest beverage company, offering over 500 brands to people in more than 200 countries. Of our 21 billion-dollar brands, 19 are available in lower- or no-sugar options to help people moderate their consumption of added sugar. In addition to our namesake Coca-Cola drinks, some of our leading brands around the world include: AdeS soy-based beverages, Ayataka green tea, Dasani waters, Del Valle juices and nectars, Fanta, Georgia coffee, Gold Peak teas and coffees, Honest Tea, Minute Maid juices, Powerade sports drinks, Simply juices, smartwater, Sprite, vitaminwater, and Zico coconut water. At Coca-Cola, we’re serious about making positive contributions to the world. That starts with reducing sugar in our drinks and continuing to introduce new ones with added benefits. It also means continuously working to reduce our environmental impact, creating rewarding careers for our associates and bringing economic opportunity wherever we operate. Together with our bottling partners, we employ more than 700,000 people around the world.